Destiny, or Coincidence Revisited?

Wow, so that’s Semana Santa 2009 come and gone. Where does the time go? Certainly on La Margarita it sometimes seems to pick up speed. I think Einstein had a theory about time not being fixed but that it is fluid - especially when having a great time and I am with him on that here in La Pampas! Over Easter we were pretty much full at the estancia. It’s always great to see La Margarita being enjoyed by guests and their children chilling out and horse riding over the wide-open pampas.

This Easter we had many guests from Argentina which was great, and we really enjoyed their company. Most stayed for 3 to 4 nights and on the Sunday night we got the guitars out and had a great sing song together. Elli and her daughter treated us to some excellent classic traditional Argentinean songs, and her husband Daniel proceeded to take some great photos (which you can see). Cecilia provided backup vocals with her children while Eduardo and Mercedes and children provided choral support. It was a lovely evening and I really enjoyed it, so I want to say a big thank you all for choosing to come to La Margarita – it was really good fun and come back soon

At the same time we also had a lovely family of four from England. Now sometime ago I wrote a blog on the subject of coincidence or destiny. It’s an intriguing subject and I had to ask myself the question again this weekend - here is the story.

Paul and Bernadette Cleary were visiting their daughter Tara whilst she was visiting Argentina as part of her travels through South America. They decided they wanted to do a bit of horse riding and asked Tara to choose somewhere. She picked up a copy of Time Out Buenos Aires and there was an article about a number of estancias to visit in BA province. She spoke to her mum and said that she had chosen La Margarita (thanks guys). The choice was made and the booking done. They came last Thursday and had a great time. Both Bernadette and her daughter Bryony (hope that’s spelt right) enjoyed loads of horse riding and went on a couple of the long rides that we offer experienced riders on La Margarita.

That night we had dinner together and, as we were chatting over a glass of wine (or four!) it turned out that they live in Hove near Brighton, just a few roads away from my best friends’ Gaynor and Brian, where I will be staying next week when I visit them. As we continued chatting to Paul he mentioned that he is a TV producer. He said that he had started out as a film editor. I mentioned that one of my best friends is a film editor and asked if he knew him. Incredibly he not only knew Martin Roach, who is one of my oldest friends, but had worked with him many times. As the conversation continued I mentioned that I wanted to promote the horse riding on La Margarita by means of putting small videos on our web pages showing, for example the horse rides, tack we use and the gaucho life style, but had no idea how to go about it. By coincidence Bernadette has just launched a website on the theme of pregnancy and is producing a series of videos on the subject which seems like a fantastic idea to me (why didn’t I think of that?!) – have a peek http://www.mybirth.tv/. They explained the process of video film making and the internet to me and said they would be happy to offer advice if I needed it. Finally we decided to have dinner one night when I am in Hove in the next few weeks. Can’t wait.

Ok, you decide. Here we are in the middle of the Argentine pampas a million miles from Hove and this happens – was it coincidence or destiny? – answers on the back of a post card please.

This is David Cumming alias the English Gaucho, a little more knowledgeable about the internet and sitting in the gallery of La Margarita enjoying the lovely autumn sun
Hasta la vista

David Cummings

Animal Farm

Many of you who have come to La Margarita have sent us e mails asking how the animals are doing. As you can see from the photo of the kittens that arrived last November they seem to have settled in very nicely although mice catching doesn’t seem to be on their agenda. Fido’s wound has healed after tearing his leg on barbed wire in his now vain pursuit of a hares. Jack is as jealous as ever and is now bigger than his dad Fido. Tom well Tom is Tom old and content he sometimes manages the energy to walk with me but heads back when he has had enough. The turkeys had babies but sadly they have all disappeared and it looks like the foxes ate well one night – we will try and put them in a coup the next time buts its difficult. The horses are doing fine and everyone loves Dolores one of the few with a name who says to say hi to you all!
Saludos
Hasta la proximo

David